Philadelphia 76ers: 3 takeaways from Game 1 defeat vs. Raptors
3. Riding the starters is the only option
In order to assemble such a star-studded crew, general manager Elton Brand had to sacrifice most of his team’s depth. This was a chief concern heading into this matchup, since the Raptors’ small-ball versatility and deeper second unit did not bode well for a team that can’t really rely on anyone outside of its starting five.
Head coach Brett Brown tried his hand at a couple of bench rotations to give the starters a breather and match Toronto’s versatile lineups, but suffice it to say, they didn’t work.
Turns out playing Boban, Korkmaz and Ennis at the same time — in a playoff series — may not lend itself to good things.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) April 27, 2019
Midway through the first quarter, Boban Marjanovic entered the game as the first sub off the bench, followed quickly by James Ennis III and the rarely used Furkan Korkmaz. What was a seven-point disadvantage quickly ballooned to 12, and Boban and Korkmaz were subbed back out three minutes later.
Korkmaz is supposed to be a 3-point shooter, but went 1-for-6 from the floor, including 1-for-4 from downtown. He was a -4 in 12 minutes, and that figure would’ve been a lot worse if not for garbage time. Ennis scored 11 points in his 21 minutes, but was a whopping -18 off the bench. Boban was a -17 in just 10 minutes of action.
Sixers gotta start playing Butler/Harris/Redick/Simmons like 40 minutes each. The bench guys are just brutal, outside of Ennis, who is OK in spurts.
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) April 28, 2019
The starters have to rest at some point, but between Ennis, Boban, Korkmaz, T.J. McConnell, Greg Monroe, Jonah Bolden, Jonathon Simmons and rookie Zhaire Smith, the Sixers don’t really have anyone dependable coming off the bench.
This is the kind of series where the starters are really going to have to get their conditioning in, because otherwise it could be over pretty quickly.